when writing music...

I don't the the *definate* answer (there might not be one) but I would say that those who consider themselves "musicians" would use notation; those who call themselves "guitarists" might be prone to using TAB.

Overall it's a decison for each individual; everyone knows that notation has advantages over TAB, and vice-versa, and that not all music can be put into TAB form (piano for one would be very hard to do).

Obviously the main advantage of TAB is anyone can read it!

So basically what I'm saying is; it's up to you. There is no "set" way that you have to choose.

Pete

both ways have been around for a few centuries.
notation looks cooler IMO. 8)

if I were to write I would probably use notation.
only because I know the names of the notes.

I never learned to read music, so if I'm writing anything down, it has to be in tab. Normally, when I'm learning a song, I'll write the lyrics out in black or blue ink, with the chord changes written over the top of each line in red. I'll try and leave a little room at both sides for any notes. Any unusual chord voicings, I'll put an * next to the chord, and write it out at the side like *G 320033.

If I need to tab solos out, I'll usually do them on a separate sheet, so's things don't get too muddled.

*Memo to self - for the thousandth time, learn to read music will you, Vic!*

:D :D :D

Vic

do guitarists usually write it in tab or actual standard notation?

When?

It depends on what you mean by "it". Notes for their own reference? An outline for working on a song with their band-mates, or what? It's often not necessary to write everything out in a formal way, it depends a lot on what you're doing.

I suspect that there are also many who don't use either much, and who just rely on memory and/or rough notes. For instance, if you're jotting down a chord progression all you need is chord names - C, Am, G7, D (or whatever) and a few simple bar line marks.

If you're writing down a lead/melody line then you might use standard notation, tab, note letters (E, E, F# etc) or even some sort of personal memory jogging shorthand (rather like Vic's margin notes in his example above). These days you're probably be just as likely to press a button and make a quick rough recording of whatever you want to be sure to remember. I'm not a professional musician, so I may be way off the mark. But I've always understood that there have been plenty of successful players who never wrote it down at all, but just kept it in their heads. Presumably they could always use a professional copyist to write a proper score out if it was needed for a publisher or whatever.

I can read and write standard notation, and that's what I prefer. So I do use that occasionally, but mostly if I'm making up a song I just make rough notes or rely on memory. I also like to improvise anyway, so I'm often only jotting down a rough map, not an exact set of rules. If I was writing something out for someone else to play along, then I'd use whatever they could read.

Others might see it differently of course. :)

Cheers,

Chris

Always in standard notation - if I'm going to be giving copies to other musicians to play and they're non-guitarists I don't want to have to write it out a second time.

Best,

A :-)